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Shoshanna describes the video club as being made up of people who are proud to be nerds. Chase’s participation in the video club caused her to be disgusted with her fellow members. She is revulsed that they have come to admire him so quickly. She admits, upon researching his suggestion, that interviewing Solway is a good idea. On the way to the retirement home, she enters a text thread with her brother, whom she still hasn’t told that Chase is in the video club. Shoshanna is turned away by Solway, who is incredibly hostile toward her, reminding her of Joel’s constant negativity. As she is leaving, Chase enters the room, and Solway’s demeanor changes instantly. He assumes the two middle schoolers are a team and becomes eager to help with Shoshanna’s project. She feels trapped and is furious at having to include Chase in her project. She wonders how she will explain this to Joel.
Chase rides to his house with his father in his dad’s new Mustang. They have to turn the engine off to hear each other. Chase expresses gratitude that Corinne and Helene seem to accept him more. His dad wonders why he cares, remarking that Chase does not come across as tough as he did before. He advises Chase, saying, “Think of Aaron and Bear. Like that” (109).
Frank says he has gotten Chase an appointment with a sports physician, who will give him a second opinion about whether he can play football this season. Excited about the possibility, Chase remarks that he will tell his mother. Frank demands that this doctor’s appointment be kept secret from his mother. Chase is eager to get back in the team’s good graces, hoping a sense of pride and self-assurance will come with it.
As they head to the retirement home, Chase, Bear, and Aaron throw a football back and forth, paying no heed to the pedestrians or automobile traffic with which they interfere. Chase believes his athletic skills are returning. As they approach the home, he sees Shoshanna arriving and goes out of his way to make sure the others don’t see her. He dashes up to Solway’s room, intentionally leaving his friends behind. He says he is intentionally doing this to keep the two parts of his life separate.
Chase records Solway as Shoshanna interviews him. It is their third session, and she is adept at getting Solway to share a variety of stories that stir different emotions: sadness, admiration, and laughter. Solway’s mischievous nature is revealed in his outrageous stories. When Aaron and Bear discover Chase taping Shoshanna interviewing Solway, they express betrayal, pointing out that her family was responsible for them receiving community service. The three argue, challenging Chase’s allegiance, before Aaron and Bear walk away. Chase feels their criticism is on target since he kept his video work a secret.
He returns to Solway’s room and finds Shoshanna retrieving a large box full of memorabilia from a closet. Caught up with the project, she treats him as she would any other group member, something Chase notices. He is also aware that Solway’s behavior has changed in several positive ways while he and Shoshanna have been interviewing him. He is like a different person, restored to the man he was before his wife died.
Shoshanna uncovers many artifacts she wants to use as cutaway visuals in the video. She finds the empty Medal of Honor case. They search for the medal but cannot find it. Solway admits his wife might have lost it. He sits down, lost in remembering her. Chase and Shoshanna leave together, discussing Solway and his constant discounting of the Medal of Honor. The idea strikes Chase that the medal was stolen and the case planted deep in the closet on purpose. He instantly thinks Bear and Aaron might be the culprits. This makes him ask several hard questions about whether he should do something about the situation.
Brendan relates that he fell instantly in love with Kimberly Tooley when she showed up at the video club. He knows she has feelings for Chase. He expresses the irony that he cannot hate Chase anymore—in fact, he really likes him—yet Chase is oblivious to Kimberly’s affection. Brendan would do anything for her attention. With Chase and Shoshanna working on the Solway video, Brendan plots to have Kimberly help him with a YouTube video, only to have her turn him down. He convinces her to help him by saying Chase is participating as well, meaning he must convince Chase to participate. This will be a further distraction to the girl he wants to impress.
Brendan has Kimberly and Chase come with him to a park where there is a great pile of leaves. He dons white coveralls and a Morphsuit, and has the others pour 11 bottles of syrup over him. He plans to roll through the leaf pile on his rollerblades and come out the other side as “Leaf Man” (124). Chase and Kimberly must roll him to the starting point, from which he quickly picks up more speed than he anticipated and crashes into the leaf pile. When he tries to get up triumphantly, he is accosted by dogs who begin the lick him. He cannot skate away because his rollerblades are jammed with leaves. Chase thinks it is hilarious, while Kimberly wonders what is supposed to be funny about it. Brendan’s affection for her is undeterred. He reflects, “Love isn’t just blind. It’s also totally stupid” (127).
Shoshanna describes Joel’s extreme homesickness. Joel continually video calls and asks to be brought up to speed about Hiawassee happenings. He watches over the phone as Shoshanna bathes their dog, who came home from the park covered in leaves and some sticky substance. Shoshanna has not told Joel about her video project with Solway because of Chase’s involvement.
Shoshanna reflects about bonding with Solway and admits that she has bonded with Chase. Much of the time they spend with the old man is really spent just visiting and enjoying his presence. She says people can tell that Chase is a different person. She recognizes that when he is with Bear and Aaron, they make each other nervous, though they still try to be friends.
Solway once referred to Shoshanna as Chase’s girlfriend, which embarrassed them both. Shoshanna describes Solway as extremely crusty; he likes to bait the nurses even though they know he likes them.
After a visit with Solway, Shawnee and Chase go to Heaven on Ice, the site where she dumped yogurt on him, and have a sundae. They sit in a corner booth and look at the video they have made of the old man. They decide to go back to see him once the video project is over. They are interrupted by Shoshanna’s mother, who is startled to see her sitting with Chase. Mrs. Weber makes Shoshanna leave immediately and tells Chase he should be in jail. She forbids him from seeing anyone in her family and tells Shoshanna she’s going to be in real trouble when she gets home. They accidentally leave the ice cream store without Mrs. Weber paying for her frozen cake.
Mrs. Weber calls her husband, who comes home from work. They confront Shoshanna about being with Chase. Shoshanna explains that Chase has changed because of his amnesia. She even says that she likes the new Chase and that they are friends. Her mother says regardless of whether he is a good person now, Chase can never be forgiven. Her dad says she can never explain this to Joel. Shoshanna knows this is true. Ultimately, she suggests that since the Chase who bullied her brother is gone, they should bring Joel back from Melton. Her parents are surprisingly open to this idea. The chapter ends with Shoshanna texting this news to Joel.
In this portion of the text, the distinctions between people and groups have become extreme. Chase realizes he cannot simultaneously be friends with the video club kids and his former football buddies. Shoshanna realizes she can no longer express hatred toward Chase, whom she has come to admire. There is a good deal of parallelism here as well: Shoshanna, Joel, and Solway are partners in constant complaining, even when they are complaining about one another. Shoshanna compares Solway—whom she considers a “miserable jerk” (106)—to Chase, another miserable jerk.
This is one of the more humorous parts of the story, which works in large measure because the humor is unintended. No one is trying to be funny. When Brendan attempts to make a comic statement, his failure is grand beyond anything he attempted. Rather, it is Kimberly, who asks if “this supposed to be funny” (127), who gets the big laugh. The joke continues in the next chapter, when Shoshanna’s dog comes home covered in syrup from Brendan’s epic fail.
If Chase is continually full of ambiguous uncertainty, Shoshanna is his opposite in never being uncertain about anything. In this section she decides to become real friends with the person she most hated, calls out her parents for not giving Chase a chance to become a better person, and summons the courage to tell Joel the whole story about her involvement with Chase.
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